Video Game Review - Fallen Knight

Rob reviews Fallen Knight on Xbox Series X...

Fallen Knight is a cross between Arthurian Legends and the sci-fi atmosphere of Mega-Man. On paper, this mash-up sounds awesome - and to a large extent, it is. However, Fallen Knight inescapably falls into the category of "just another Mega-Man clone".

The story of Fallen Knight is split across two parts. One side sees us playing as the noble and legendary warrior Lancelot. The other places you into the boots of the assassin, Galahad. Both techno-inspired Knights are on a crusade to stop The Purge, a militant religious group that's attempting to take over the city. 

It all feels very Mega-Man inspired as The Purge takes up residency across various districts, with 5-bosses needing to be thwarted. Well if the systems worked for Capcom for all these years then it must be good? 

The gameplay consists of two variations that fall to your chosen Knight. Play as Lancelot and you're given the conventional Mega-Man gameplay of running left to right whilst performing basic platforming. Between any of the 5 missions, you can purchase skills and upgrade acquired ones. All before defeating the final boss and saving the day.

However, choosing Galahad adds a rogue-like option to the story. This sees you given a random selection of skills with death throwing you back to the very beginning. Much like Lancelot, Galahad's skills can also be upgraded, but these come at the beginning of each run. 

Each Knight has various moves at their disposal. Lancelot can utilise a parry and disarm move which is performed by a series of button presses. Nailing this combo will see Lancelot disarm and knock out his opponent rather than killing them outright - a noble deed for a noble Knight. Galahad on the other hand prefers to kill his targets and as such his special skill is assassination. This sees him take down his foes with relative ease, whilst taking a big chunk of health away from the boss of the area. Interestingly, these skills can be completely ignored with no penalty for doing so. Fancy turning Lancelot into a killing machine? Well, you can even though the game tells you he prefers to kill only we necessary...

There's a surprising grind here too. If you decide to play as Lancelot you'll have to rinse and repeat levels to unlock his basic skill set. Things such as double jump and dashing should theoretically be unlocked via default. Yet here, Lancelot has to earn the right. Much like other aspects, it slows the namespace down to a crawl. Although if you play the game in the casual difficulty setting Lancelot has these skills from the start! 

While the gameplay is generally entertaining, it's let down by some very poor controls. Each special skill is incredibly difficult to pull off and each boils down to random luck rather than skill. Button presses seem to have a slight delay to them too which drastically slows down the pace of the game I'd love to be flying through levels parrying this, disarming that, but Fallen Knight's controls make you treat each standard enemy like a boss battle. It's unnecessary slow. Wall running is another unnecessarily complex process. Both Knights can wall run, and they like to show you often. Regardless if you've asked them to or not. It's incredibly frustrating as you'll overshoot an enemy or fall into a barrage of missiles. 

Visuals look at the part and both the Knights and the games many enemies are presented well. Both Lancelot and Galahad look like a couple of bad dudes even if the gameplay hides the fact. 

While the game's stages fit into the atmosphere well, they are incredibly bland and uninspired. Fight on top of a moving train, clichéd lift battles, secret laboratories, rooftop chase, all the old favourites are here. The landscapes don't offer anything different to what's come before. 

Deep down Fallen Knight is a great concept that's been let down by some dodgy controls and poor level design. The idea of giving the player two different ways to play the game and should in theory add to the games longevity. However, in practice, Fallen Knight is just about worthy of a single playthrough...if that. 

Rating 5.5/10 

Fallen Knight is available now and can be purchased via the Microsoft Store by clicking here. 

A code was kindly provided for this review.

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev